Monday, 23rd November 2009 Roberts SportsDAB 2 - digital radio on the 'phones and on the move

Roberts is single-handedly making operation of its new handheld Sports DAB easier; thanks to its clever design you'll only need five digits to get it up and running.

The Roberts SportsDAB II, successor to the RD14 personal DAB/FM radio, now features both a built-in speaker and headphone socket. This means that, like the Pure Move, you can carry it around with you and still use it when you forget to pack headphones. Roberts claim the unit can be operated with one hand, using the mutlifuction jog/select wheel.

No need to have the telescopic aerial sticking out of your pocket, though, as the headphone cable acts as the aerial when plugged in on the move. Sitting down at the cricket? Just raise the telescopic aerial and the SportsDAB looks like any other portable DAB radio, for instant access to Five Live Sports Extra and talkSPORT, plus a host of other DAB digital and FM radio stations.

To save on batteries, there's a built-in rechargeable lithium battery pack. Battery life is quoted are about 15 hours when listening through the loudspeaker at regular volume levels, or 18 hours when using headphones. Errant fingers are stopped in their tracks by a key hold feature and an auto shut-off facility acts like a sleep timer.

If nothing on DAB takes your fancy, you can switch back to FM where the Roberts SportsDAB 2 will happilty tell you which station you're tuned to, thanks to RDS station naming.

The Roberts SportsDAB 2 is available now with a recommended price of GBP 79.95, however, online prices are much lower.Roberts SportsDAB II DAB handheld radio with FMRoberts SportsDAB II DAB handheld radio with FM